GWU puts 7 players on 1st team All-Big South football

By Special to The Star

Published: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 at 05:01 PM.

Running back Juanne Blount (Wingate) and tight end Mike Estes (Raleigh) each earned second-team All-Big South honors on offense, with Blount posting the first 1,000-yard season for a Gardner-Webb back and just the fourth since 1989. Blount carried a league-high 257 times and finished with 1,040 yards and nine touchdowns.

Estes tied for the league lead among tight ends with 18 receptions and finished with 278 yards and a team-high 15.4 yards per catch. The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder was one of only two freshmen to earn All-Conference recognition in the league in 2013 – along with Coastal Carolina kickoff returner Devin Brown.

Chad Geter (Irmo, S.C.) was named second-team All-Big South on defense. The 6-foot-2, 233-pound linebacker finished with 82 total tackles, led the team with 50 solo hits and added 9.0 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and two game-changing interceptions.

Day and long snapper Hudson Smith (Aiken, S.C.) earned spots on the second-team special teams unit and quarterback Lucas Beatty (Charlotte) earned a spot on the All-Big South Academic Team.

Gardner-Webb (7-5) welcomes back 18 starters on offense and defense for the 2014 season.

CHARLOTTE - Gardner-Webb capped its best season since 2003 by taking 11 spots on the All-Big South Conference Football Team announced Tuesday by the league office.

The team is voted on by the Big South’s head coaches and a panel of media members. Seven Gardner-Webb student-athletes earned first-team All-Big South honors.

Gardner-Webb’s defense, which led the Big South in eight major team defense categories and set a league record by allowing just 296.8 yards per game, put five student-athletes on the first team – and took up three of four defensive-line slots.

Defensive end Shaquille Riddick (Akron, Ohio) was runner-up for the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award, finishing just three votes behind incumbent Quinn Backus of Coastal Carolina. Riddick was the top vote getter on the defensive front after setting a Big South record with 8.5 sacks and finishing second nationally in tackles for loss per game.

The 6-foot-7, 240-pounder also established new career-best totals in tackles (67), tackles for loss (19.0) and pressures (17). Riddick was named a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award on Monday and is also the lone FCS representative on the Ted Hendricks Award Mid-Season Watch List - given annually to the nation’s top defensive end.

Preston Pemasa (Garden Grove, Calif.) became a four-time All-Big South Conference selection Tuesday, earning a spot on the first-team defense at defensive end. One of the top pass rushers in the Big South’s history, Pemasa finished his career with 46.5 tackles for loss and 16.5 sacks. He totaled 49 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks in 2013 – helping Gardner-Webb lead the league as a team in sacks.

Youthful nose guard O.J. Le’iatua Mau (Masefau, American Samoa) earned first-team All-Big South honors as well after a spectacular season anchoring the Gardner-Webb defensive line. Mau emerged as an All-America candidate after finishing the season with a career-high 54 total tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks and four quarterback pressures, regularly dominating double teams in the middle.

The defensive line trio played a key role in Gardner-Webb holding eight different opponents to less than 150 yards rushing and four under 100 yards on the season.

Linebacker Tanner Burch (Savannah, Ga.) earned first-team All-Big South honors for the second season in a row after finishing second in the league with 107 total tackles. The 6-foot-3, 241-pound junior, who excelled in the middle of a new 3-4 scheme in 2013.

Burch has totaled 237 stops, 16.0 tackles for loss in 32 career games at Gardner-Webb.

Cornerback Keon Williams (Charlotte) was also a first-team All-Big South choice and enjoyed a breakout year at the position. The 6-0, 170-pound senior finished with 36 total tackles (24 solo) and picked off a career-high four passes (43 yards, TD) and broke up nine more passes. Williams, a first-team Capital One Academic All-District III selection earlier this month, finished his career with 98 tackles, five interceptions and 11 pass break ups in 40 games played.

Kenny Cook (Cross Hill, S.C.) was the lone GWU pick on the All-Big South first-team offense. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt junior led the Big South in receptions (76), yards (1,008) and touchdowns (8). Cook is the first Gardner-Webb receiver since Rodney Robinson in 1992 to cross the 1,000-yard mark in receiving. In two seasons with the program Cook has hauled in 124 passes for 1,674 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Jordan Day (Marvin) was named first-team All-Big South at punter and was a second-team selection as a placekicker. Day led the Big South in punting average with 39.1 yards per attempt and in net punting average for the season. He pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line 17 times and boomed seven punts at least 50 yards. Day was named Special Teams Player of the Week four times during the 2013 season.

Day also led the Big South with 14 field goals, third-most in Gardner-Webb history for a single-season and the most since Ryan Gates booted 16 in 2008.

Running back Juanne Blount (Wingate) and tight end Mike Estes (Raleigh) each earned second-team All-Big South honors on offense, with Blount posting the first 1,000-yard season for a Gardner-Webb back and just the fourth since 1989. Blount carried a league-high 257 times and finished with 1,040 yards and nine touchdowns.

Estes tied for the league lead among tight ends with 18 receptions and finished with 278 yards and a team-high 15.4 yards per catch. The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder was one of only two freshmen to earn All-Conference recognition in the league in 2013 – along with Coastal Carolina kickoff returner Devin Brown.

Chad Geter (Irmo, S.C.) was named second-team All-Big South on defense. The 6-foot-2, 233-pound linebacker finished with 82 total tackles, led the team with 50 solo hits and added 9.0 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and two game-changing interceptions.

Day and long snapper Hudson Smith (Aiken, S.C.) earned spots on the second-team special teams unit and quarterback Lucas Beatty (Charlotte) earned a spot on the All-Big South Academic Team.

Gardner-Webb (7-5) welcomes back 18 starters on offense and defense for the 2014 season.